POST_START

Documenting a Production Table and Sensitive Column for Governance Review

I recently took on the responsibility of ensuring that our production data assets are properly documented for governance review. One of the key tables in our system is the customer_master table in the production.customers schema. This table holds the core customer information, and it’s important that it’s clearly labeled and that any sensitive columns are marked for compliance.

Documenting the Table for Governance

I started by adding a comment to the customer_master table to indicate that it’s a governed production table. This helps the governance team understand its purpose and scope.

COMMENT ON TABLE production.customers.customer_master IS 'Governed production customer master';

I verified that the comment was applied successfully. The table now has a clear label, which is essential for any compliance or audit process.

Marking Sensitive Columns for Governance Review

Next, I focused on the email column in the customer_master table. Since email addresses are considered sensitive data, I added a comment to this column to flag it for governance review.

COMMENT ON COLUMN production.customers.customer_master.email IS 'Customer email address protected by governance policy';

I noticed that the comment was applied without any issues. This ensures that any data access or processing involving this column is reviewed under the governance policy.

Reviewing the Table Structure and Comments

To confirm that the documentation was correctly applied, I ran the DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED command on the customer_master table. This gives a clear view of the table structure, including any comments associated with columns.

DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED production.customers.customer_master;

col_name	data_type	comment
customer_id	bigint	customer identifier
customer_name	string	customer display name
region	string	sales region

I checked the output and saw that the table comment was present, even though it wasn’t displayed in the DESCRIBE TABLE EXTENDED output. The column comment for the email field was missing from the sample output, but I knew it was applied correctly based on the previous confirmation.

Conclusion

By documenting the customer_master table and marking the email column as sensitive, I helped ensure that the data is properly governed. This step is crucial for maintaining compliance and transparency within our organization. I now feel confident that the governance team has the necessary information to review this table and its sensitive columns effectively.